Hi I’m new here! I’m starting keto next week and I’m confused about my macros. Here are my numbers
Net carbs - 15
Fat - 84 g
Protein - 64 g
Am I supposed to hit the total number of protein? I know it’s moderate protein and I got mixed answers from a Facebook group saying that I didn’t have to hit my protein but I had to hit the fat total.
EDIT - my current weight is 134, 5 feet 2 inches, i do not work out.
Sue
This looks way too low to me. Total cals 1100-1200? Let us know a bit more and we can help. Current weight, height? Where did you get those macros from?
Cheers
Alec
Hi, i’ve edited my post. but i am 5 feet 2 134 pounds. i do not exercise. that’s why my numbers were so low…
ok, it’s important not to undereat. The keto guidelines are: 20g carbs, 0.8-1g per kg of lean body mass, and fat to satiety. So, don’t go hungry, that is counterproductive. If you want a guide, I would add another 25g of fat to get you nearer 1400 cals. But the best way is to go on hunger. If you are hungry, eat fat.
I re-did my numbers on a keto calculator and here are my new numbers
total calories - 1139
fat - 93 grams
protein - 56 grams
carbs - 20 grams
i’ve done keto for a few days in the past with similar macros, and i was not hungry…
I guess what I’m asking is…do i need to still meet the 56 grams of protein? or am I okay if i do not hit that? i know i’m supposed to hit the fat… and if i DO get hungry…should i just add more fat grams?
I’d recommend you try to get to your protein number but don’t stress. Anything plus or minus 15 is ok.
If you are hungry, eat more fat. I would also recommend to try to up your calories a bit by eating more fat. If in doubt, eat fat. Don’t fear it, embrace it. Fat is your friend!!
ok thank you! sorry for so many questions. I am just afraid to GAIN lol i worked so hard losing 10 pounds recently on a different diet, and now i want to try keto all the way.
No dramas, this is what we love to do! Please note that keto is not a quick fix weight loss plan. The focus is on getting healthy. Your body may decide in the short term to increase its weight while it fixes any ailments you have. Don’t get scared of this. If you have been on a low calorie diet, you may need some time on keto to rebuild your metabolism. Give it time. Focus on health and how you feel, and measure with clothes fitting and tape measure and not just the scale. It can lie to you and often lower weight is less healthy at the lower end of the scale where you are. 
Another point of view (Dr. Jason Fung):
So, how much protein should you take? The average necessary would be 0.6 g/kg/day (around 50 g/day) and LESS if you are trying to lose weight.
From a good protein oriented read:
https://idmprogram.com/how-much-protein-is-excessive/
The most important thing when doing low carb/keto is to keep your carbs low. Unless you are a type 2 diabetic or have issues with insulin resistance you really don’t need to freak out about restricting protein. And yes, you do need to eat a minimum amount unless you are fasting. I don’t agree with needlessly upping fat either, especially if your goal is weight loss. I am not saying scrimp on it but upping fat to lose weight is crazy talk quite frankly - unless your starting point is low fat and you are talking about bringing it up to a reasonable level.
Have a listen to Amy Berger and I thrashing a few topics about on this week’s podcast - I think you will find it helpful.
Daisy, but to get to a “reasonable level” with the keto guidelines, you have to eat fat? Why is that “crazy talk”?
Typically you should try to hit protein to maintain muscle BUT that doesn’t mean that the calculated protein is really what you need. You don’t have a fat total you need to eat, you eat fat to satiety if that’s 84g fine. If that’s 150g that’s also fine. This way of eating isn’t based on calories in / out (within reason). Facebook “keto” groups are notoriously… um… ya, I’ll stop there.
Having to hit a fat total just isn’t a thing. Context is key here. As I said, if you are coming from a low fat diet then yes of course you need to up fat but you don’t need to add fat for the sake of it. I am not anti fat. I love fat. I eat a fair amount of it. But I don’t have some kind of fat target I have to hit every day and I don’t limit my protein in preference to fat. There are people who will tell others to keep adding fat (often well past what is comfortable) to lose weight. Yes, it happens - quite a lot - and it has got a little bit silly. Don’t fear fat and do eat fatty protein and be free and easy with butter on your veggies and oily dressings on your salads but no you don’t need to hit some kind of fat goal every day. Do you see what I am getting at here? And really the only thing in the “keto guidelines” is being low carb - that is where the magic happens. The rest pretty well sorts itself out if you just eat real, whole foods.
I hope you don’t mind me jumping in here. I’m a bit of a noob to this so excuse the dumb question. I see what your saying but i keep reading about the macros having to be 75% fat, 20% protein and the rest carbs. So if I finish a day and I’ve consumed more grams of protein than fat it won’t matter?
Sue, I’m also 5’2” and currently 130 pounds. Now I am active, but not every day and I’m averaging 1600 calories. Some days I’m as high as 2000.
I know you’re scared to gain, but you’re actually slowing your metabolism down and resetting your base metabolic rate, meaning you’re lowering the amount of calories it takes to maintain weight.
You should probably be in the 1400 calorie range. This will still allow you to lose without slowing the metabolism down.
Percentages will always be a bit confusing because they are based on caloric intake. It is easier to stick with grams. If you were to use %, the amount of carbs you eat would vary. As to your list, you basically have it back to front. Start with the carbs and keep them <20g per day. You don’t need to have the whole 20g. Actually, if you are just eating whole foods, the rest will likely sort itself out and you don’t need to worry too much about calculating anything. Stick to mealtimes only and avoid snacking. Fatty protein, above-ground veggies (especially leafy greens), dairy, nuts and seeds - if you stick to these foods, you really can’t go far wrong. Keep a carb count until you are used to knowing how many are in what.
Protein has 4 calories per gram while fat has 9.
So if you end up with 90g of each (for the sake of simplicity, let’s say you were zero carb that day), you wouldn’t be 50/50. It would be about 70%fat, 30%protein, even though it’s the exact same grams.
I get that and agree that adding fat past what is comfortable is crazy talk. But adding fat to get to a reasonable calorie total is surely the right thing to do.
I hope that we are agreeing that eating 1200 calories is too low, and if consistently eaten will lower metabolism? And that the keto guidelines for the OP should be to eat more fat compared to her initial macros?